Some staff members at two Baltimore City schools played a role in cheating to help students pass a major state exam, authorities said.Parent's Guide To Maryland Testing, PreparationBaltimore City schools CEO Andres Alonso broke the news Thursday morning, saying two of his most prized and once high-performing elementary schools in east Baltimore had been caught cheating on the Maryland School Assessment test."We felt that this kind of behavior by adults was a crime toward our kids," Alonso said.Test answers at Fort Worthington Elementary School were changed and attendance records were altered during the 2009-10 academic year, WBAL-TV 11 News Education Alert reporter Tim Tooten said. Staff members are also accused of giving some students special accommodations in violation of state testing law."Students (were) being taken out of classrooms and tested individually or in small groups even though they were not students with disabilities," Alonso said.At Abbottston Elementary School, test tampering occurred with math and reading results. District officials said they became suspicious at Abbottston after third-grade reading scores dropped by 50 percent in a single year.Get Maryland News Updates On Facebook:"Thousands of answers were reviewed comparing kids' answer from consecutive years and the incidents of erasure and erasure from wrong to right in the consecutive years goes beyond the realm of probability," Alonso said."We cannot control for the actions of a few adults who for one reason or another wish to game the system," state school Superintendent Nancy Grasmick said.The district removed the schools' principals, but there was no word Thursday night on whether they or any staff members will be fired."This is so difficult to assign culpability," Alonso told WBAL 1090 AM reporter Robert Lang. "I don't think we're ever going to get to the bottom in terms of what happened in individual cases, and that's what we've found in our investigation and the numbers are very small. I'm trying to figure out exactly how far to push to hold people accountable. Right now, I am terminating people and pushing for suspension of licenses. These people go through the process and we make sure they never work in the schools again."Two more city elementary schools remained under investigation, but Baltimore City is not the only district put on notice."We do have probes in other districts and those districts are notified by a variety of sources," Grasmick said."Many different people have access to the tests -- teachers, test coordinators, principals -- but the bottom line is we're not going to let it happen," Alonso told Lang.Both scores and attendance are measured by the No Child Left Behind Act."I believe this is an isolated incident that happened. It's just unfortunate," said Baltimore Teachers Unions spokeswoman Marietta English."It's certainly troubling. I'm concerned, and I know Dr. Alonso is concerned. That's why he implemented the oversight with the latest round of tests so that he could protect the integrity of the tests," said Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.The district has spent $400,000 to monitor testing.This year's MSA results will be released soon, and Alonso said he is confident in what they'll reveal."The most extraordinarily transparent set of scores of any urban district in America, because in every school, we had external monitors," he said.

BALTIMORE —

Some staff members at two Baltimore City schools played a role in cheating to help students pass a major state exam, authorities said.

Related Content

Baltimore City schools CEO Andres Alonso broke the news Thursday morning, saying two of his most prized and once high-performing elementary schools in east Baltimore had been caught cheating on the Maryland School Assessment test.

"We felt that this kind of behavior by adults was a crime toward our kids," Alonso said.

Test answers at Fort Worthington Elementary School were changed and attendance records were altered during the 2009-10 academic year, WBAL-TV 11 News Education Alert reporter Tim Tooten said. Staff members are also accused of giving some students special accommodations in violation of state testing law.

"Students (were) being taken out of classrooms and tested individually or in small groups even though they were not students with disabilities," Alonso said.

At Abbottston Elementary School, test tampering occurred with math and reading results. District officials said they became suspicious at Abbottston after third-grade reading scores dropped by 50 percent in a single year.

Get Maryland News Updates On Facebook:

"Thousands of answers were reviewed comparing kids' answer from consecutive years and the incidents of erasure and erasure from wrong to right in the consecutive years goes beyond the realm of probability," Alonso said.

"We cannot control for the actions of a few adults who for one reason or another wish to game the system," state school Superintendent Nancy Grasmick said.

The district removed the schools' principals, but there was no word Thursday night on whether they or any staff members will be fired.

"This is so difficult to assign culpability," Alonso told WBAL 1090 AM reporter Robert Lang. "I don't think we're ever going to get to the bottom in terms of what happened in individual cases, and that's what we've found in our investigation and the numbers are very small. I'm trying to figure out exactly how far to push to hold people accountable. Right now, I am terminating people and pushing for suspension of licenses. These people go through the process and we make sure they never work in the schools again."

Two more city elementary schools remained under investigation, but Baltimore City is not the only district put on notice.

"We do have probes in other districts and those districts are notified by a variety of sources," Grasmick said.

"Many different people have access to the tests -- teachers, test coordinators, principals -- but the bottom line is we're not going to let it happen," Alonso told Lang.

Both scores and attendance are measured by the No Child Left Behind Act.

"I believe this is an isolated incident that happened. It's just unfortunate," said Baltimore Teachers Unions spokeswoman Marietta English.

"It's certainly troubling. I'm concerned, and I know Dr. Alonso is concerned. That's why he implemented the oversight with the latest round of tests so that he could protect the integrity of the tests," said Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

The district has spent $400,000 to monitor testing.

This year's MSA results will be released soon, and Alonso said he is confident in what they'll reveal.

"The most extraordinarily transparent set of scores of any urban district in America, because in every school, we had external monitors," he said.